


Silent Princess Detective Agency

by YrsaOctopus



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: (Zelda's mother), Alternate Universe - Detectives, Found Family, Gen, Genderfluid Link (Legend of Zelda), Minor Character Death, Murder Mystery, Past Character Death, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), link and zelda are best friends, might add more tags later when i think of them but the important ones are all here, this isn't explicitly mentioned but i wanted you to know :)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27981786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YrsaOctopus/pseuds/YrsaOctopus
Summary: Nestled in one of Castle City's narrow, dreary cobble streets lies the Silent Princess detective agency, home to ex-princess Zelda and her best friend Link.Together they solve crime, kick ass, and most importantly, look impeccable while doing it.
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	Silent Princess Detective Agency

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Welcome to Silent Prince Detective agency. :)  
> This fic was born out of a lively discussion in a Zelda discord server about how good Zelda and Link would look in suspenders and a tie, and it somehow evolved into this multichap monstrosity. I had tons of fun coming up with this world and story with these lovely people and I hope you like reading this just as much!
> 
> (ps. minor character death occurs in this chapter. Check the bottom notes for more details.)

Zelda made her way through the crowd quickly, weaving expertly through the people as the rain torrented down onto her black umbrella. Her heels clicked on the stone pavement as she stuffed the newspaper she had bought earlier into the inside pockets of her long coat, attempting to keep it dry.

She left the main street and turned right into an unassuming, narrow one with small brick houses. There, in the middle of the street, lay Silent Princess Detective agency.

It was hers.

She hurried inside, pausing to throw her drenched trench coat onto the coat rack and put her umbrella into the stand before she ran up the stairs towards their shared office, and pushed open the door.

Inside, Link was intently focused on some paperwork, dressed in his usual blouse and tie. He looked up as she entered and smiled in greeting.  
She would've smiled back, but her mood had plummeted the second she had seen the headline of the newspaper.

"You need to look at this," she said as she threw the newspaper onto the desk and fell back into her own swiveling office chair with a sigh, putting her hat down in front of her.

She watched as his expression changed from curiosity to disbelief.

"Mipha and Sidon?" He signed, his eyebrows knitting in concern and heartache.

She shook her head. "I haven't heard from them yet. I only just found out about what happened from the papers..."

Her gaze slid back onto the newspaper.  
There on the very front page, the bold lettering read:  
" **KING DOREPHAN MURDERED, ZORA KINGDOM PLUNGED INTO CHAOS**."

Her heart felt heavier every time she read it. Born as a daughter to the king and queen of Hyrule, she had spent many days in Zora's domain, getting to know the royal siblings as the adults spent their time in meetings and discussions. She had come to know King Dorephan as a kind man, a good father and a just ruler. She remembers being envious of the support Mipha and Sidon had gotten when they made their choices in life.  
When she decided to give up her royal life, her father had not been so kind.

She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to think about something else.

"How is the Rito case doing?" She asked Link, who seemed to shake out of his thoughts as well.

" _Good_ ", he signed. " _Done, just paperwork._ "

He half-heartedly gestured at the huge mess of papers left on the desk.

She nodded. "Then I suppose we have the rest of the day off. I haven't gotten any more clients yet, so you can probably finish all that tomorrow..."

She looked out of the window. The blinds were open, letting in the little light that filtered through the dark grey clouds covering the sky.  
It didn't seem like it would let up anytime soon, but she was used to the infamously dreary weather of Castle City, Hyrule's capital, so she didn’t mind it much.

Her eyes flicked back to Link. He had seemingly given up on his paperwork in favour of staring at the picture on the front page of the newspaper, which featured Dorephan, Mipha and Sidon, all smiling happily together.  
His expression made her heart clench. He'd been signing more than usual lately and she'd be lying if it didn't have her worried.

She promptly stood up, grabbing her hat back off of the desk.  
Link followed her movements with a questioning gaze.

"C'mon," she said. "Let's go get some dinner."

They spend their evening in their usual food place, which was run by an older gerudo lady named Ivir. She always seemed to give them a discount when Link was present and well, Zelda couldn't blame her. Many people had swooned and fallen for her best friend, for his "strong and silent" look as well as his charming personality. Even she had had a tiny crush on him shortly after they first met as teenagers, but that was quickly resolved when she saw him eat five Goron rock roasts and throw up on the side of the road just days after that.

She admitted he looked positively dashing with a tie and suspenders though.

During dinner they shared bad jokes and laughter over some delicious creamy heart soup, and she momentarily feared death when she laughed so hard at Link imitating a snooty person seated behind them that she choked on a piece of hearty radish.

It was easy to leave behind the heavy atmosphere of earlier here, and once again Zelda felt intensely grateful for getting to this point in her life.

Ten years ago, when she was still a deeply unhappy princess trapped by a dress and a crown, she never would've dared to dream about an evening like this.

Night came too soon, and a few hours later, when the moon was high in the sky, they finally left Gerudo Grub behind.

Zelda and Link shared their apartment, which was located in the same building as their office.  
The living arrangement had just... kind of happened that way. Paying rent for both an office and two separate apartments for each of them had just sounded foolish.  
So they had found this place, a narrow but charming brick walled building with two floors.

The office was on the slightly smaller top floor. It held their two desks and chairs, as well as large file cabinets to hold their massive amount of case files and newspaper clippings.  
The other room on the upper floor was reserved for science: Zelda's forensic instruments and various tools and samples were housed there.

Link turned the key and they entered the building, passing the metal staircase to enter their apartment through a second door, which was painted in Zelda's favorite shade of green.

Zelda sighed in relief and gratefully loosened her tie once inside. Making her way to the couch she settled in further, undoing the first couple buttons of her dress shirt and kicking her heels off.

The room was messy but fun, filled with bits and bobs from their various adventures and misadventures.  
A small couch was pushed against the right wall, next to a large bookshelf that held Zelda’s large and messy novel collection, (her favorite genre was murder mystery, ironically) but Link had filled the empty spaces with cheap souvenirs from all over Hyrule. They always competed in finding the ugliest possible souvenir to take home when they traveled.  
Personally, her favorite was the sand seal with giant googly eyes from the Kara Kara Bazaar. She was pretty sure Link’s favorite was the mug from Zora’s domain shaped like a fish, which made it near impossible to drink from.  
A record player sat on top of the shelf, and several boxes of Link's records were precariously stacked next to it.  
A kitchenette took up all the space on the far wall.

She'd fought tooth and nail with Link over that. She had wanted another shelve or closet for storage space but Link refused to compromise on the size and quality of the kitchen. Ultimately, she was grateful for that. Link's cooking was bested by none, and she was glad he had all the space needed to experiment with new recipes and cook her delicious things.

The centre of the room was occupied by a square wooden dining table and four chairs. Despite their vow and effort to keep all their work in the office and out of their apartment, the table was littered with loose documents and files they'd stay up late reading. Finally, on the left of the apartment was the door to their modest bedrooms.

Link had tossed his tie on the table on his way to the record player. He hesitated for a split second before carefully grabbing a well worn record from its case and putting it on. Within a few seconds, a familiar jazzy song started playing.

He hummed along, content, and crashed next to where Zelda lay sprawled out on the couch.  
Zelda was staring up at the ceiling, frowning hard. Now that they were back home and settling down it was hard to ignore the worries that had been plaguing her for a few weeks now.

The worry must've shown on her face, as she felt a gentle poke in her arm. She tilted her head to find Link watching her.

"Is something wrong?" he said, in his usual soft spoken way. Somehow he always noticed when her mood dropped or when something was on her mind.

She chewed her tongue, trying to find the right words to describe what she was feeling.

"I'm just.. worried? I guess?" She mumbled. Link was still earnestly staring at her, waiting for her to continue.

"It's... been a while since we've truly been busy at the agency... You must have noticed it too."

She spoke slowly, twirling her hair around her finger and avoiding Link's gaze.

"We can manage to pay the bills and everything for now... but I fear that, if business doesn't pick up soon, the agency might not make it.."

Link squeezed her shoulder, looking at her in sympathy.

"Don't worry about it too, you know I won't give up." she flashed him a tired smile.

She could not give up on her detective agency. It meant everything to her.  
This little office was the embodiment of everything she had accomplished, how she'd wrenched control over her life back and decided to chase her passion.

And it was her only chance to finally get closure.

She blinked in surprise as Link pulled her close into a hug.

"You know I won't either," he muttered into her shoulder.

She held him closer, squeezing him and putting her head on his shoulder. She felt a suspicious wetness creep behind her eyes that she was trying hard to blink away.

She really was incredibly lucky to have him.

\----

The next day, it turned out she needn't have worried. They had barely made their way up the stairs when someone ran up to the closed door after them and burst into their office, nearly blowing the door of of it’s hinges.

He was tall, very tall, and needed to duck just to fit through the doorway. She only saw a flash of his red scales before she recognized him and ran to hug him.

"Sidon!!" She exclaimed, as she fell into his arms. "I can't believe you're here!"

But her excitement at seeing him quickly faded as she remembered yesterday’s headlines.

Her tone softened as she pulled away and looked up into his eyes. They looked tired and swollen, betraying a restless night.

"I... heard the news... I'm so sorry for your loss Sidon, I just can't believe he's gone.."

He looked down at her with a sad yet genuine smile.  
"It is a pleasure to see you, my dear Zelda, as always. I had only hoped to see you under better circumstances."

Zelda scrutinized his face. His scales were dry, further clueing her in to the fact he hadn't been sleeping well.

"And sir Link, it has been a long time, no?" Sidon flashed a small smile to her partner.

Zelda turned around to look at Link, who was staring up at Sidon, eyes as big as saucers.

He raised his hands to talk.  
" _You grew_ ", he paused, still staring, " _A lot_ ".

At this Sidon let out a genuine chuckle.  
"Yes, I suppose I did. The last time you saw me was nearly a decade ago, I believe?"

Link nodded, and then seemed to finally shake himself out of staring.

"Pardon me for asking, but Sidon... what brings you here right now?" Zelda asked.

She had a foreboding feeling.

Sidon's fickle smile dropped.

"The truth is... I come seeking help." He breathed in. "Regarding my father's recent passing."  
The office was silent for a beat, as they both waited for each other to talk. Sidon looked a bit lost, standing tall in their tiny office, his head tail brushing the ceiling.

Zelda spoke first.

"We will help any way we can, but- what happened?"

"They've arrested Mipha for my father's murder."

Silence.

Broken only by a loud crash as Link jumped up in disbelief, his chair falling over.

Her heart clenched in dread.

"What?" She whispered, pure disbelief mingling with the same kind of fury that was now radiating from Link's eyes.

Sidon slowly clenched his eyes shut, pained.

"I know. It is.. preposterous."

"But how could the Zora guard ever arrest Mipha?! They know she would never do such a thing!"

"It wasn't the Zora guard that arrested her." He spoke, sharply. "The Zora guard's expertise lies in protection from monsters, not in solving violence among men. All _crime_ is handled by the Hylian guard."

Link sucked in a sharp breath as Zelda softly cursed.

"We tried to convince them that it could never have been Mipha, that she has no motive." He looked down at the ground, fighting to keep the emotion out of his voice. "But they would not listen. They have taken her away to the Castle prison."

Zelda was clenching her fist so hard her nails were almost drawing blood on her palm. She forcefully stretched her fingers out, and stopped biting her cheek.

She spoke, fire in her eyes."We are going to need everything you know about the murder. We _will_ prove her innocence."

Minutes later, they had sat Sidon down on the couch in their apartment, with a blanket and a steaming cup of tea. Link had his notepad at the ready, and Zelda dragged a dining chair over to sit opposite to Sidon.

"It happened two days ago, in the early evening. We were staying in Rauru, the settlement near the great Hyrule forest and military training camp. Father and Mipha decided to have dinner together, but I ate with Bazz and some other guards."

"You were in Rauru? Why?" Zelda asked, as Link was fervently scribbling. 

"We were on our way here for a meeting with King Hyrule. The Korok hotel is the only hotel in the area with large enough rooms and hallways to accommodate my father."

Zelda nodded. "Who else was travelling with you?" 

"Only three guards, since Mipha and I are both more than capable of defending ourselves. Their names are Bazz, Tottika and Gaddison." 

Sidon pinched his forehead. 

"It pains me to even have to think about this, but- none of them could have done it. I was eating dinner with them during the time of death..." 

Zelda mentally filed their names away, then prepared herself to ask some hard questions.

"Do you.. know how he died?" She asked softly. 

Sidon nodded. Then shook his head, clenching his teacup tightly. At Zelda’s quizzical look, he clarified.

"Yes, I do, my apologies" He laughed, it sounded almost manical.

"It just.. it doesn't feel real yet. It feels bizarre discussing the circumstances of his death when I still have the feeling he will walk in any moment." 

With a pang, Zelda was reminded of those first days after her mother's death. She, just seven at the time, had walked in circles through every room in the castle, fully expecting to find her somewhere.

Of course, she never did.

She knew exactly what he was feeling, and the fact a friend like him was going through something like that stung deeply.

"I get it, do not worry" She said softly, looking him in his eyes. He looked up at her, vulnerability in his gaze. 

He slowly nodded, before a second passed and the moment was gone.

"Then, I'll describe what happened for you. 

As I mentioned, we were traveling towards the capital from Zora's domain, and stopped to rest for the night in the Rauru Korok hotel. Around 7pm, I ate with the guards, but Mipha was tired and ate along with my father, in his room.

She retired for the night, and when I came to check on my father..." 

He shifted and forcefully closed his eyes, clenching them shut. 

"He..." Sidon paused, sucking in a breath, his small teacup shaking in his large clawed hands as he stared at the same point on the wooden floor.

Zelda shared a silent look with Link, both of their gazes betraying the pain they felt for their friend.

"He was just laying there." Sidon's voice broke. "I tried to wake him up, but..." 

Zelda cut in, unable to hear him continue, her own throat heavy with emotion. 

"I'm sorry-" she said, cutting herself off as her voice came out too constricted. Not collected enough.

It was all too familiar. If she closed her eyes she could imagine herself sitting in that chair in his place, trying to carry on as her world collapsed around her, head filled with questions that had no answer.  
No one had ever been able to answer them for her, and they haunted her to this day, still keeping her up at night.

She wouldn't let that happen to Sidon. She _couldn't_ let that happen to him. 

She was going to find who took his father away from him. 

"I am so sorry," she repeated, her voice steadier than a moment earlier. 

"This should never have happened to you. We can't bring him back to you but..." 

She leaned forward and grabbed his wrist, eyes shining with determination.

"We _will_ find justice for you. I promise." 

**Author's Note:**

> _(Notes about the minor character death: King Dorephan dies. His death is not described, but Sidon's reaction to finding his body and his death is. Always feel free to comment if you need more info!)_
> 
> So, that was the first chapter! Please let me know what you think in the comments!  
> As of now I have the second chapter ready to post, but I write super slow so peer pressure me to write when the updates take too long please :P  
> Anyway, super big thank you to [Fairy for betaing this fic,](https://auntbeef.tumblr.com/) without your feedback this fic would've been a lot more bland and would've had many more mistakes. Also thank you to everyone in the SPDA discord for helping me create this story! 
> 
> If you'd like to keep up with this story and talk to various talented people that like loz, consider joining the [discord server for this story. :)](https://discord.gg/d7wwtEhma6/) We'd all love to chat with you.  
> Also this is my [tumblr if you feel like following me!](https://froggyrights.tumblr.com/)  
> Anyway, thank you very much for reading, I hope to see you in the next chapter <3


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